‘Tonight was a stepping stone’: Josh Hazlewood on his successful return in IPL

Paceman Josh Hazlewood handed Australia an Ashes boost as he made a successful return from an Achilles injury to help Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Lucknow Super Giants 18 runs in the Indian Premier League. Hazlewood took 2-15 in his three overs as RCB successfully defended a modest total of 126 for nine on Monday.
On his spell and bowling on the Lucknow pitch, Hazlewood said,”It was a good change up. We have played a lot of cricket at Chinnaswammy, which has been a batting paradise. I think it’s good to have occassionally one for the bowlers in a low scoring affair. It was quiet a tight match and exciting as well. One team was really never out of it.”
Talking about the RCB camp, the senior pacer said,”It started in Siraj’s first over. I think a wicket and one run offered. It was a great start and we sort of and we sort of jumped on the back of that. I think at half time we knew we were still in the game, it was a tough wicket to bat on. We knew that we had to bowled them out to win the game. If they had seven-eight batters bat the 20 overs, they were are going to get 130 runs. It was all about attacking and taking wickets.”
Hazlewood has been working with Cricket Australia medical staff to get fit in time for the tour of England, which starts with the World Test Championship final against India in June followed the Ashes.

Hazlewood took 20 wickets at an average of 21.85 in four tests during the 2019 Ashes in England, which ended in a 2-2 draw and saw Australia retain the urn.
On the kind of pitches he would like to bowl, Hazlewood said, “You got to change your game up a bit. Bowl to the conditions. We learnt from how LSG went about their bowling, especially their spinners.”
“It was nice to have a hit out in the middle tonight. Achillies is feeling pretty good. Tonight was a stepping stone,” he added.